Steering and starting mechanism for tractors.



w. s. MURTQN STEERING AND STARUNG MECHANISM FUR YRACTOHS.

MPLICATON FILED 0C?. 3U. Wl 3.

W. S. MURTUN.

sTEERlNG AND STARTING MECH/WISPAl nog TRACTURS.

APPLICATION HLED GCT. B. MN5.

W @wom Zie i0 as r Mor n JXAWgMMa/w "5^ In.'l

2 SHEETS--SHEET 2.

lzitvnted Aug'. (j, 1918 man;

WALTER S. NORTON, 0F HAERIBBUBG, IENNSYLVLNIA.

STEERING AND STARTING MECHANISM `FOB. TBACTORS.

Speclcation of Letters Patent.

Patenten Aug. e, 191s.

Application led Uctober 30, 1915.` Serial No. 55,028.

To all whom it may concern.'

Be it known that I, WALTER S. MonToN, :1"citizen of the United States, residing ut Harrisburg, in the county of Dauphin und State of Pennsylvanie, have invented new and useful Improvemerits in Steering and Starting Mechanism for Tractors, o f which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to motor-driven trucks or 'tractors of the heavy type usedv for hauling large loads and especially to the steering and starting mechanism for such vehicles.

This truck or tractor is of the four-wheel drive type und both axles ure mounted to swing in a front and rear direction in steering the vehicle, and a driving connection is maintained to the wheels in any position the axles may assume in steering.

A principal object of the invention is to provide n truck or tractor of the type mentioned with a very simple steering means which operates in such n wuy that the vehicle muy be steered at any moment at will4 hy hund or by the application of power fronti the motor, and without necessitating the disconnection or adjustment of any prt of the mechanism.

A further object of the invention is to provide improved ineens for connecting the axles so that they will swing in unison and also fo provide improved means for applyin r the steering power to the uxles.

r`ru -ks or tractors of the heavy type re ferrcd to :1re frequently used on bad ronds or in places where the vehicle islikely to hecome stalled. In order to meet this diliculty, one of the objects of the invention is to provide improved means for applying hund power advantageously with n high leverage to drive the wheels oi" the vehicle Islowly but. powerfully, und in such a wuy als to assist in dislodging the wheels when stulled.

Where a motor truck or tractor, such as give n greater leverage or purchnse to the j hand power than that which resides in the re ulur handsteerin ear.

ux-ther objects ofgtle invention will appear more fu Vly hereinafter. i

The invention consists in the general comhination of parts and details described hereluefterz all of which Acontribute to produce an ellicient steering and starting mechanism for tractors.

A preferred embodiment of the invention is described in the following specificntion,

'while the brondtscope of the invention is pointed out in the appended claims.

In the drawing, j

Figure 1 is n side elevation and partial sectipn illustrating an embodiment of my inyention. j l Fig. 2 is a plan of the truck or tractor shown in Fig. 1, certain parts being shown in eross-sLectionfi` and other parts being-l omitted for the sake of clearness.

Fig. 3 is a cross-section taken across the frame just to the rear of the transmission ease.

Fig. .4 is u plan upon an enlarged scale, showing details of vthe steering mechanism.

Fig. 5 is a. detail plan of the steering connections between the axles.

The truck or tractor illustrated comprises n frame 10 of an suitable construction, preferably provide at its forward end with n transverse bnr or bolster 11 which has a bull-und-socket joint 12, with4 n. geur ense 13 which is rigid with and attached to the upper side of the forward axle 14. This geur euse in the present embodiment of the invention carries uworm 15 which drives the differential 16 of the forward axle. This bnll-nnd-socket joint 12 evidently permits the' forward axle to swing in n front and rear direction, sind also erniits a consideruble swinging movemen of the axle in `n substnntinlly vertical plane. It is understood however that the manner of connecting the wheel axles 14 sind `17 to the frame 10 is n mutter of detail, except that it is importent that each uxleshould be able to swing substantially horizontell in a, front and rear direction about e x exisV on the frame.

The rear axle ,17 may be attached to the frame in :my suite-ble manner, but preferably through the medium of a pivot. pin v18 which is mounted in the upper side of u geur case 19 which carries a worm 20` los similar to the worm l5. which worm meshes 'i with and drives the ditl'erential gearing 21 in the` rear axle 17. The pivot pin 18 is preferablyr rotatably mounted in the )ivot )late 22 whieh is received in a box or housing .53 secured to the fraaie and this plate yieldingly supports the frame through the medium of springs' 24 disposed within the box or case :2.3. These springs permit an up-and-down yielding movement ot' the frame on the rear axle. At. a suitable point on the frame, a motor 25 is supported and this motor operates to drive transmission mechanism 26 by driving the shaft. 27 mounted in the transmission ease 28.

Between the shaft 27 and the motor, a clutch 2t) is provided which may be thrown open or closed atwill by means of a clutch lever 30 connected in anv suitable manner with the eluteh 29. Wlhen the eluteh is closed. the shaft 2T rotates. and the arrangement issueh that motion ran be transmitted from this shaft 2T to the stel-vinty gear in either direction so as to swing the axles in a direction to steel' the traetor to the right or to the left. This is preferably aeromplished h vJnenns ot' two eluteh members 31 and 32.',the latter of whieh has gear teeth 33 meshing direetly with a pinion 3l on shaft, 2T. 'The eluteh member 3l has gear teeth 35: however. they do not. mesh direetly witlrthe. driving pinion titi on the shaft 2i'. but they do mesh with an idle gear 3T whieb meshes with pinion 3G and is driven thereby. From this arrangement evidently the clutch members 3l and 3:2 are eonstantly driven in opposite directions when the eluteh 2*.) is elosed. The. steering meehanism 3S is preferably actuated b v power meehanism ineluding a driving' member 35i whieh may be. in the form of a worm as Shown. said worm meshing with a worm wheel l0 which is eonnerted with the .steering meehanisln 38 so as to swing the axles in the manner which will be deseribed more. in detail herei- Vina fter.

The driving member or worm E59 for drivingtho steerinr meehanism is preferably rigidly mounts( on a powel-driven shaft 4l and this'power'driven shaft earries slidahlev eluteh `members 42 and 43 which eoporate respeetively with the elnteh members 32 and 31. 'l`hese elutrh members 42 and 43 are splined on 'the shaft ttaulare arranged to beY slid sinlultalwous .i in the power shaft so that when one elutrb is in engagementJ with its eorresjionding eluteh member. the otherleluteh eomposed bf thel opposite elutoh l'nenibers is open. j

[n order to shift theY eluteh members in this way.'l prefer to provid'e a shifting bar 44 earryinar rigid arms 45 whieh engage eollars on the eluteh members 42 ali 3.

'lba bar tl mayl be slid longitudinally in either direction 1n any suitable manner such as by means of a hand lever lli connected with the end of the bar and pivotally mounted at 4i' on the transmission ease. In order lo prevent the shaft 4l from shifting longitudinally. it is provided al its forward end with an adjustilni` sex-ew IS and at its rear end with a eollar 49 whirh abuts againsty a simili shoulder formed on the shaft at; 50. The sha tit ll extends from the ease to a convenient point to be reaehed from the driver`s seat nl and is there. provided with a suitable hand wheel 52 by means of which the worm :itl can be rotated bv hand. Tith this arrangenu-nt evidently the hand-steen ing wheel .'2 is constantly,eonneeted to the steeringr meehanism and evidenti)l the driver of the traetor ran apply motor power or hand steering at will as desired. and vfurthermore. he ran do this without disromieeting any part from its normal position.

The steeringY nieelianism in preferably eomprises a pair ot' crossed eonneet ing members. preferably in the t'orm of links Fili the forward ends ot' whieh are pivotall \v attaehed as at :34 to the forward axle It and the rear ends ot' whieh are similarly attaehed qto the rear :nele li'.

lietveen the eros-sing point 5,1 ,ofethe eqnneeting members and the rear axle. the linke.L or eonneeting;r members 53 are preferably formed with bifurrated portionsl at. vWhen the worin wheel l0 is rotated in one divert ion or the other. its` shaft 5T rotates its attaehed sproeket wheel .5S about whieh passes a sproeltel ehain 59, and the end portions of 100 this ehain extend longitudinally with the eonneeting members 53 and the endsare anrhored to adjusting serews ti() at' the ends ot the bifureated portions t. The adjusting screws (i0 are provided with nuts (i1 10 on eaeh side of the end or head (t2 of the bifureated portion so that by srrewing the nuts in one. direction or the other` the end of the ehain ean be adjusted to shorten or lengthen the ehain. In order to adjust the 11o lengths of the connectin members 53 so as to adjust the. posit'ons o the axles in relation to each ot ier, prefer to form the ends of the eonneetng members 53 lwith turn buckles tf. (lne end of eaeh of these turn 115 buekles is attaehed on the threads of each of the aforesaid adjusting serewstvt). Evidently, these turn bnekjes 63 ati'ord means for adjusting the lengti of the comieeting:` members 53 without changing the adjust- 12o ment of the rhaln itself with relation to the members 53.

The shaft 27 of the transmission met-hanism, through suitable change speed gears drives a driven transmission shaft 64, an the ends of this shaft are connected by snitable flexible couplings 65 with driving shafts 'which have flexible connections 67 with the interior of the worms 15 an 20, in this way enabling the dierentials 16 and 21 to 130 i crankin .a paw] 69 carried by 15 olosed, this lever 70 be driven in any position the axles assume.

' In order to enable the driven transmission shaft 64 to be rotated very advantageously by hand power when the clutch 29 is open, I prefer to extend the shaft 27 from the transmission case and provide a hand power device giving a relatively large leverage for rotating this shaft. For this purpose, in the present embodiment, I have illustrated afratehet wheel 68 with which coperaties a lever 70, said lever being mounted to rock on the axis of the shaft 27. `Evidently, when the clutch is may be einplo ed to In case there .shou d be a sometimes occurs in an explosion en ine, the pawl 69 automatically throwsy itse f out. For this purpose, there is provided a, detent pawl 71 may start the engine. kickback which l which engages with the 'ratchet pawl and which is in the path of the nose of the aWl 69 so that if a backward rotation of the ever occurs, the nose of the pawl strikes the curved upper edge 72 of the detent pawl and this rotates the pawl 69 on its pivot 73 and releases it from the ratchet.

When the clutch 29 is'open, this lever 70 evidently aiords means for advantageously a plying hand power to rotate the wheels ofthe vehicle. This will occur, of course, if any of the transmission ars 74 are in mesh with the corresponding riving gears on the shaft 27. By this means a tractor of this construction, when stalled, can be moved for its'wheels may be slowly rotated, and this may be very useful in moving the vehicle away from its stalled position.

The lever 70 may also be employed for swinging the axles when desired without the use of power, and without the use of the regular steering gear. .It is advantageous to employ the lever 70 for this purpose, because a much greater leverage or purchase results from the use of the lever.

I prefer to provide means for automatically throwing outthe power steering drive connection in case the operator omits to throw it open olf his own accord when the axles have about reached the limit of their movement in steering. For this purpose I prefer. to connect the shifting arms 45 with a bar 75, (see Fig. 4),and near its middle point this bar has gaps 76 formed in its edge, leaving a tongue 7.7. The upper side of the worin 40 is provided with two up wardly extending projecting pins 7g3 which are substantially dianietrically opposite to each other, in the present embodiment. Whatever be the direction of steering, one of these pins will travel toward the tongue 77 and if the power dri ve is not thrown open by the driver at the proper time, the pins will strike the tongue 77 and shift the bar 75 longitudinally. This shifts the arms 45 and .posed of the clutch opens whichever clutch is driving the worm wheel.

I provide means for bracing the under sides of the axles 14 and 17, and for this purpose I prefer to provide longitudinally disposed braces or bars 79, the forward and rear ends of which are pivotally attached at 80 to the under sides of the axles and the inner ends of which are pivotally attached at 81 to a bracket 82, attached to the under side of the transmission case, and which also forms a The mode of operation of the mechanism is substantially as follows:

If the power steering lever 46l is moved in one direction or the other, the shift bar 44 will be shifted, for example, toward the left as in Fig. 2. f This will close the clutch commembers 32 and 42. This will cause the worm shaft 41 to rotate, and the rotation of the worm 39 rotates worin wheel 40, and the spindle 57. This rotates sprocket wheel 58 which takes up the chain 59 on one side and pays it out on the other side. In this way a pull is exerted on 'one of the connecting members 53, and the other connecting member which crosses it is released or paid out. This evidently will swing `one axlein one direction and the other axle inthe other direction, So that they may assume a position such as that dotted lines in Fig. 2. If the operator omits to throw ont the 'power-steering mechanism, it will be thrown out automatically by the manner just desem above.

Evidently when both vof the steering clutch members 42 and 43 are in their open osition, the .steering may be effected by and power `by ,rotating the hand wheel 52 by hand. l v

When the clutch 29 is thrown open and the transmission gears are connected with each other, the lever`70 will ail'ord means for giving the wheels 83 a'slight rotation. If the transmission gears are thrown out of connection and one or theother of the steering clutch members 42 or 43 closed, then the lever 70 aii'ords means rfor swinging the axles in affront and rear direction.

,pins 78 coperatingevith the bar 75 in the guard for the sprocket wheel 58.

indicated in Special attention is called to the fac't that each of the driving worms 15 and 2O is disposed directly over the axis on which its corresponding axle swings in steering' the Vehicle. This feature, co rating .with the iexible connections for riving the worms from the drive shafts 66, enables the driving connection to all four wheels to be maintained in any position the in steering the vehicle.

It is understood that the embodiment of the invention set forth herein is' only one y A of the many embodiments or forms t e invention may take, and I do not wish to be limited in the practice of the invention nor axles may assume) in my claims to the particulai` embodiment set forth. And I may use any feature of my invention without the other features.

What I claim is: l

1. In a motor-driven vehicle, in combination. a trame, a motor supported thereupon, a )uwer-steering shaft, driving means for drlviimr the same in either direction from said motor, a driving member on said shaft, steering mechanism actuated thereby, said drivingr means for driving said power-steering shaft from said motor including clutches corresponding rcs iectively to two directions of driving tiie power-steeringr shaft, means for closing either of said clutches yat will, including a hand-operated shifting device, said shifting device including a bar, a member adjacent said bar connected with the axles and arrangedto rotate in steering the vehicle and means carried b v said last named member for engaging,r said bar for throwing,r either of said clutches open at the limit of the steering movement, and means constantly connected with said power steering,r shaft for rotating the same b v hand when both clutches are open.

2. In a motor-driven vehicle, in combination, a frame, a motor mounted u on said frame, transmission mechanism, a c utch for driving the transmission mechanism from said motor, means for controlling the activity of the clutch, said transmission mechanism including driven gears for driving the wheels of the vehicle, and a hand-power device independent of the clutch controlling means and operatively connected with the gears of the transmission mechanism to rotate the wheels of the vehicle when said clutch is open.

3. In a motor-driven ,vehicle, in combim tion, a frame, a motor mounted upon said frame, transmission mechanism, a clutch for driving the transmission mechanism from said motor, said transmission mechanism including driven `gears for driving the Wheels of the'vehicle, and a hand-power device comprising a ratchet, 'a pawl and an operating lever therefor, connected with the gears of the transmission mechanism to rotate the wheels of the vehicle when said clutch is open.

4. In a motor-driven vehicle, in combination, a frame, a motor mounted u on said frame, transmission mechanism, a c utch for drivingthe transmission mechanism from said motor. .said transmission mechanism includingr driven ears for driving the wheels oi the vehicile and having a neutral position in which the driven gears are ineffective to drive the wheels of the vehicle, axles for the vehicle wheels, mounted on the frame to swing iu a` front and rear direcvtion in steering` the vehicle, steering mechanism driven by the transmission mechanism for swinging the axles in steering, and a hand-power dev-ice connected with the transmission mechanism to actuate the same to swin r the axles when said clutch is open.

5. n a motor-driven vehicle, in combination, a frame, a motor mounted upon said frame, transmission mechanism driven by said motor, a clutch member driven in one direction by said transmission mechanism, an-

other clutch member driven in the opposite direction by said transmission mechanism, steering mechanism, a driving member therefor. clutch members cooperating with the aforesaid clutch members to drive said drivingr member in either direction by said motor, and hand-operated means for holding said second named clutch members in their open position and means for actuating said driving member to ste-er directly by hand.

G. In a motor-driven vehicle and in combination, transmission mechanism, traction drive mechanism operated thereby, steering mechanism operatively extending into said transmission mechanism to permit steering' b v power at will, a moto'r, clutch connections between said motor and transmission mechanism, and manually operable means extending into said transmission mechanism beyond said clutch and adapted to provide transmission mechanism operation when the clutch is disengaged, whereby either 0r both traction drive or steering action may be had manually during clutch inactivity.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in presence of two subscribing Witnesses.

WALTER S. MORTON.

Witnesses A. C. WHALEN, Ro'r. L. Mon'roN. 

